BALTIMORE — In the first study of its kind, researchers monitored the Netflix usage of 24,400 subscribers and discovered a startling statistic: the average user spends over 90% of their viewing time simply scrolling through titles and categories, looking for something interesting to watch.
“The average Netflix users spends over two hours a day just scrolling from title to title, reading the little captions,” said lead researcher Samuel Johnson. “In the vast majority of cases, the user never actually started a program.”
According to the report, most users search Netflix for 60-90 minutes, then spend another hour on Facebook.
Additionally, researchers believe they have identified the primary cause.
“According to our research, the Netflix Instant catalog actually contains only 78 movies and television shows,” Johnson said. “Subscribers keep scrolling and scrolling, thinking there are new titles on the next screen or the next category, but they are invariably mistaken.”
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said his service still has great value, despite the dearth of viewing options.
“We are proud to offer great titles like Troll Hunter, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and several spin-offs from the Power Rangers franchise,” Reed said. “Plus, we have all 120 episodes of LOST.”
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Two weeks after my Netflix article was posted, the Onion came up with this: http://www.theonion.com/video/netflix-introduces-new-browse-endlessly-plan,35308/ Coincidence?